Fastener for paper files



Patented Oct. 24, 1950 UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE 2,526,975 FASTNER FOR PAPER FILES Ira D. Siegfried, Medina, Ohio Application October 22, 1946, Serial No. 704,823

1 claim. 1

This invention relates to fasteners for paper files, and it has reference particularly to a onepiece fastener of bendable material such as paper, iibreboard, sheet plastic, sheet metal and the like, having a body portion and tab means extending laterally therefrom and adapted to be looped through the papers (preferably preperforated) of a file to securely fasten the same.

Itis known that fasteners having body` portions with ostanding tabs and somewhat similar in appearance to those of the present invention are not new, but in all such fasteners a securing plate complemental to the body portion of the fastener', and juxtaposed on the opposite face of the le from such body portion, is required for interlocking engagement with the tabs after they have been passed through the file.

In addition to the simplicity of the fastener of the invention, and the ease of its manipulation as compared with known fasteners of somewhat similar type, it lends itself readily to such modication as will adapt it to multiple type, whereby papers may be fastened in serial and/or stepped arrangement, and to the embodiment of structural details whereby it will furnish a holding means for index tabs and the like, all as will be explained more fully hereinafter and finally claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated,

Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are perspective Views of three forms of the fastener in accordance with the invention,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional View taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3,

Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate two modes of applying the fastener of Fig. 1 to a paper le,

Figs. '7 and 8 are sectional views taken on the lines 'l-l and 8 8 of Figs. 5 and 6, respectively,

Figs. 9 and 10 show further modified forms of the fastener,

Fig. 11 illustrates a typical application of the fastener of Fig. to a le of papers, with index tabs in place,

Figs. 12 and 13 are sectional views taken on the lines |2-I2 and |3-l3, respectively, of Fig. 11,

Fig. 14 shows a still further modified form of material such as paper, breboard, sheet plastic,

sheet metal and the like, having suflicient thickness and strength to impart the requisite characteristicsrof bendability and non-fracture upon repeated bending, includes a body portion l provided with laterally oifstanding tab means 2, and the body portion may be furnished with apertures 3 (Fig. 1) or it may be imperforate (Fig. 15) depending upon the mode in which the tab means are to be looped through the papers constituting the file to be fastened.

As shown, the apertures may be circular, as in Figs. 1 and 3 to 15, inclusive, or they may be in the form of slots 3', as in Fig. 2.

If desired, the body portion may have its longitudinal rigidity enhanced by the provision of beads 4 (Figs. 3 and 4) or by overturning its edges 4 to double thickness (Fig. 9)

The fastener maybe applied to a file of papers to fasten the same in various modes, whether the papers are of the type having a pre-formed series of evenly spaced perforations 5 adjacent to one edge (Figs. 5 to 8 and 15) or plain sheets in which perforations 5 must be formed by punching prior to filing (Figs. 11 to 13). f

As shown in Figs. 5 and '7, the fastener is juxtaposed at one face of the file and its tab means 2 laced through adjacent perforations 5 to the opposite face and then back through other perforations 5 of the sheets and apertures 3 of the body portion and then returned.

As shown in Figs. 6, 8 and 15, the fastener is juxtaposed at one face of the le and its tab means 2 laced through adjacent perforations 5 to the opposite face and then back through other perforations 5 with the free ends of the tab means extending toward each other between the adjacent faces of the file and the body portion of the fastener.

It will be apparent that in the application of the fastener in the mode last described the beads 4 (Figs. 3 and 4) or doubled edges ll (Fig. 9) will facilitate entrance and projection of the free ends of the tab means 2 between the adjacent faces of the file and the body portion of the fastener.

The modified form of the fastener shown in Figs. 10 to 13, where the body portion la-Ib is of U-shape in cross section, not only provides a channel in the edge of the part la for the slidable and removable reception of the tangs 'l of appropriate guide tabs 8, but forms an edge binder for the le as well, thus facilitating the handling of the file. Also, the tab means 2 when passed through the pre-punched perforations 5 in the 3 sheets of the le may be laced through the apertures 3 in the part I b to hold the file intact.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 to 9 and 14, the apertures 3 are so spaced as to conform to the conventional spacing of the perforations of sheets with series of perforations hereinbefore referred to, thus facilitating the application of the fasteners to such sheets. In the forms of Figs. 1 to 9 only four apertures are provided, but in Fig. 14 the body portion I of the fastener is preferably elongated to accommodate six conventionally spaced apertures, thus facilitating the location and application of the fastener with respect to the sheets of the le.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. to 13 the spacing of the apertures 3 in the part lb is conventional, and the tab means 2 are similarly conventionally spaced from the apertures adjacent to them, as is true also of the other forms shown. Thus, this modified form may be used either with series perforated sheets or with sheets which must be punched prior to application of the fasteners, as has hereinbefore been indicated.

In Fig. 15 the body portion lc is of sheet character and may form a backing attachable to or providing a part of means in an appropriate ling system.

This body portion has a plurality of serially arranged and spaced tab means 2 preferably in parallelism and adapted to be looped or laced through the perforations of the sheets in the manner illustrated in Figs. 6 and 8, thus serving to attach a plurality of sheets in what may be termed indexing or stepped relation, as shown in Fig. 15.

In further reference to the multiple fastener of Fig. 15, it will be noted that its size, and hence the number of sheets, separately attached, which may be secured by and to it, are limited only by considerations of facility for use. Furthermore, this fastener could have its body portion Ic provided with spaced apertures of the nature and for the purpose of those illustrated in Figs. 1 to 9 and 14.

Various changes and modifications are considered to be within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the following claim.

What I claim is:

A fastener for paper les, comprising in a single self-contained integral unit of bendable material a body portion having a plurality of tabs in relatively spaced offstanding arrangement substantially marginally of the body portion and in substantial parallelism with respect to each other, said body portion being adapted to be arranged wholly in juxtaposition to one face of a le of papers to be secured, the oifstanding tabs being passed through the papers of said i'lle from one face thereof and into contact with the other face and looped back through said papers, whereby there may be fastened to the body portion a plurality of papers in partially overlapping relation and with their free edges in stepped arrangement.

IRA D. SIEGFRIED.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number` Name Date 67,895 McGill Aug. 20, 1867 285,640 McGill Sept. 25, 1883 1,337,598 Grant Apr. 20, 1920 1,895,182 Unger Jan. 24, 1933 2,014,780 Powell Sept. 17, 1935 2,025,495 Bourdon Dec. 24, 1935 2,323,393 Hartmann July 6, 1943 2,324,004 Kriegsman July 13, 1943 2,468,355 Ambler Apr. 26, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 22,614 Denmark Nov. 26, 1917 133,499 Germany Aug. 25, 1902 231,911 Switzerland Oct. 2, 1944 

